Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

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It takes a full day to reach Bwindi, a forest reserve and World Heritage Site tucked away in the south-western corner of Uganda. If you choose to travel there by public transport, ensconced in the bus's heady atmosphere of human sweat, slow-roasted chicken snacks and baked banana, by midday you will probably be pining for leafy suburbia. But when at last you arrive, and have finished haggling with your driver over whether the agreed price was in us dollars or Ugandan shillings, you will alight in the coolness of a tropical evening, amidst the chirping of a myriad frogs and the last-minute whistles of a robin that reach a crescendo of melody as the sun sinks behind the forest canopy. And you will wonder why you never came before.

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is a small island of biodiversity straddling the Ruhiga Highlands and the Bwindi Hills, and hemmed in by a sea of tea and banana plantations. Once part of an extensive region of moist tropical forest that occupied some 20 per cent of Uganda's land surface, it now accounts for virtually all that remains of the country's forest habitat - a mere 2.6 per cent of its land surface. Small as it is (Bwindi occupies only about 331 square kilometres), the forest nevertheless supports some of Africa's richest plant and animal communities, with 200 tree species, more than 350 bird species, numerous insects, reptiles and amphibians, 350 species of butterflies recorded thus far, and over 100 species of mammals, including half the world's population of mountain gorillas.

Why this phenomenal diversity? The answer lies in a combination of factors. Bwindi's geographical position between the rainforests of the Congo Basin in the west and the savanna grasslands in the east make the forest a mixing ground for species from both biomes. In addition, its location on the edge of the Albertine Rift Valley has added a number of the so-called Albertine Rift Endemics to its species list. Factors operating on a geological time-scale have also contributed to the awesome species diversity of Bwindi. Between one million and 25 000 years ago, climatic changes forced the retreat of once-widespread Afromontane forests up the cooler, wetter mountain slopes, where they formed refugia for the ancient flora and fauna. Many of these ancient species still occur in Bwindi today.

Of all the factors, though, the most important is that Bwindi itself contains a diversity of habitats that support a wide range of often narrowly adapted species. In fact, Bwindi is one of the few forest reserves that incorporates a continuum of lowland and Afromontane habitats. These include the immense bamboo thickets in the north-east; both upland and lowland swamps, of which Mubwindi Swamp is the largest; and, of course, the three-tiered layers of the forest itself.

At its edge the forest is truly impenetrable, with small shrubs, tangled ferns and fallen branches forming a dense and unyielding barrier, save where animal tracks have carved inroads into its interior. Inside the forest, though, where a cool twilight reigns, the lack of light results in little growth in the understorey. Here tracks wind unhindered between wizened trees reaching desperately for light. Now the name 'Bwindi', meaning 'place of darkness', becomes clear, for the canopy, some 40 to 50 metres above the ground, absorbs most of the light long before it can reach the plants below. On the leaf-littered forest floor, delicate bracts and brightly coloured toadstools jostle beneath the luxuriance of ferns, mosses and dainty Impatiens flowers, and thin, pale-leafed tree seedlings begin their long journey towards the upper canopy.

The middle storey of the forest is occupied by small tree species and lanky saplings, their growth suspended until a mature tree from the upper canopy crashes to earth, its fall opening up enough light and space to afford the saplings a brief opportunity to grow towards that most sought-after realm - the forest canopy. Other trees employ more devious means of reaching the upper levels - epiphytes and strangler figs make use of birds to transport their seeds to the upper branches of canopy trees. Once established, the figs gradually suffocate their unfortunate hosts, their long, encircling roots slowly thickening and tightening. The white trunk of the tall mukumbwe Bosqueia phoberos, master of the forest canopy, protrudes well above the other trees, its buttress roots anchoring it in the shallow soil.

Linking the high forest canopy with the shaded floor, swinging vines and lianas form a highway used by a multitude of animals in their three-dimensional search for food. By day, the forest reverberates with the explosive shrieks of monkeys and chimpanzees, and the calls of birds. The rhythmic 'chucks' of the bar-tailed trogon Apaloderma vittatum guide a determined birder to a sighting of this shy, crimson-chested denizen, while the metallic tapping of tinkerbirds Pogoniulus spp. may be heard all around. Both red-tail Cercopithecus ascanius and blue monkeys C. mitis are common inhabitants of the forest, and troops spend most of their time feeding in the upper canopy, where the numerous tree species ensure a year-long supply of fruit and flowers.

The coveted canopy is not, however, without its dangers, for it also provides direct access to aerial predators soaring above the forest. The African crowned eagle Stephanoaetus coronatus, largest of the Bwindi predators since the demise of the leopard, feeds largely on monkeys, which are thus highly vigilant. At intervals, their reverberating shrieks shatter the stillness of the forest as they leap and crash to the safer lower levels, accentuating their alarm calls by deliberately crashing boughs.

It is not just the canopy that is alive with movement and sound. On the ground, snakes, insects and spiders scurry through the soft leaf litter, while bleary-eyed toads gaze out from the safety of burrows. Bushpigs and porcupines are common but seldom seen, leaving only excavated bulbs as tell-tale signs of their nocturnal rooting. To the more observant wanderer, an occasional wide trail of freshly bruised leaves and grasses, cutting across the well-worn forest paths, betrays the passage of a group of mountain gorillas.

The mountain gorilla, Gorilla gorilla beringei is one of three subspecies of gorilla, all of which are confined to the rainforests and moist tropical forests of western and Central Africa. Of the three subspecies, it is at present the most threatened - by habitat loss, poaching and the recent escalation of war in its home ranges. The area in which it occurs is highly restricted, with almost half the population in Bwindi forest and the rest roaming the Virunga Mountains between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and the Mahinga Gorilla National Park in southern Uganda.

Mountain gorillas live a life of lazy wandering, in groups numbering between two and 23 animals. Rising only when the sun has warmed the forest understorey - and sleeping in when the weather brings cool clouds or rain - they pass their days in quiet browsing. They are prodigious vegetarians - an adult male will consume as much as 20 kilograms of plant material each day - but are equipped with only a simple, one-chambered stomach. Digestion is therefore inefficient, resulting in the bloated stomachs and resonant belches that characterize a group of contented gorillas. As their vegetarian diet is low in vitamin B12, potassium and calcium, mountain gorillas supplement it by occasionally snacking on insects, soil and dung. Nevertheless, their diet is remarkably conservative, and it is only baby gorillas that experiment with new food types. Many of these are inedible, but occasionally the youngsters come across a new delicacy in their gastronomic explorations, and this will be added to the group's list of food plants.

Each gorilla group is led by a dominant male, or silverback, recognized by the broad band of silver hair down his back that he acquires on reaching maturity, at around 15 years of age. The silverback is by far the largest animal in the group, and all male breeding privileges are reserved for him. All the gorillas within the group are genetically related to the silverback, and he, being able to invest considerable energy in his offspring, is remarkably tolerant of the hooligan activities of the young gorillas.

The female gorillas within a group adhere to a strict hierarchy, with rank being determined largely by age and the number of offspring produced. When a group is large, lower-ranking females may join a smaller group led by a less successful or younger silverback, but one in which their rank will be higher. This migration by young females is important in that it not only allows genetic mixing between groups, but also lessens group conflict. Gorilla males rarely fight actively for females, since it is largely up to the female to choose to which group she will belong.

Elusive by nature, mountain gorillas keep to their own hidden passageways in the forests, and thus would seldom be seen by visitors. In Bwindi, however, a few selected groups have been habituated to tolerate the proximity of human observers. Viewing is controlled, and there is no guarantee that the habituated group will be found by the Parks Board trackers - even after many hours of sweat-drenching exertion. Yet the gorillas of Bwindi have a peculiar magnetism, probably due to the combination of their immense stature, their endangered status and, perhaps most of all, the fascination inherent in encountering at close quarters a creature so similar to ourselves, but whose evolutionary history has led it along so different a path.

Most people come to Bwindi to see the mountain gorillas, but at the same time they are, fortunately, exposed to the astonishing beauty and diversity of the forest itself and its many other inhabitants. The gorillas are just one of 10 primate species in Bwindi, which is the only forest where mountain gorillas and the common chimpanzee Pan troglodytes both occur. Heard rather than seen, the chimpanzees are more wary than the habituated gorillas and keep to the arboreal canopy heights, but their uproarious hoots echo through the forest by day and night.

Far below, at ground level, another giant roams the forest clearings and pathways. Strangely elusive in spite of their large size, the elephants of Bwindi are seldom seen, although their passage is marked by broken saplings, upturned trees and the mire of trampled wetlands. Some 20 to 30 elephants are thought to occur in Bwindi, mainly in the Mubwindi swamp area, although they wander throughout the forest in small groups, restricted only by the steeper slopes. Some mystery still surrounds the exact identity of these animals; are they the true forest elephant Loxodonta africana cyclotis or merely a recently isolated group of bush elephant L. a. africana?

Despite their relative sizes, the butterflies of Bwindi are far more conspicuous than the forest giants, and it is perhaps they that are most evocative of this forested wonderland. It is easy to believe that Bwindi is home to one of the most diverse butterfly populations in Africa - as you walk along the forest paths you disturb soft, multi-species clouds of brightly coloured butterflies, while in the shaded leaf litter on either side the velvet wings of Junonia species slowly fan the air.

A number of fascinating adaptations have allowed the butterflies to exploit the different dimensions of their forest habitat. Strong-winged charaxes (subfamily Charaxinae) frequent the upper levels of the canopy, and are only lured to the forest floor by the stench of rotting fruit or dung. Alcohol produced in the fermenting fruit can create an intoxicating punch, which can make these usually powerful fliers give a comic display of drunken weaving. Weaker fliers, the colourful grass-whites and grass-yellows, flutter near the forest floor, easy prey to predators. The brightly patterned acraeas (subfamily Acraeinae) are stronger fliers, their markings advertising to would-be predators their possession of toxic compounds, mostly cyanide derivatives. A particularly strange sight is that of hundreds of butterflies converging at the edges of puddles, on patches of damp soil or sometimes even on piles of animal dung. Poking their probosces into the substrate in a behaviour known as 'mud paddling', the butterflies extract precious salts and minerals from the water or faces.

Of all requirements for life and growth within the forest, water is the least limiting. With rain falling almost throughout the year and the thick canopy preventing much evaporation from the forest floor, this is an environment where the sound of water dripping from moss-covered rocks, the chirping of myriad unseen frogs, and the distant noise of streams and waterfalls form a constant background to the other forest noises. The numerous streams and rivers of Bwindi play an important role beyond the boundaries of the forest, as the primary source of water for Lake Edward in the Rift Valley to the north-west. Beyond the lake they eventually join the Nile as it flows northward to the sea. Within the forest, however, the Ivi and Ishasha are the two major river systems, fed by a network of numerous smaller perennial streams which, in places, flow over magnificent waterfalls. In areas of poor drainage, water collects in hollows, forming wetlands and swamps that add to the diversification of habitat within the forest borders.

Thus Bwindi - the 'place of darkness', the 'impenetrable forest' - is also a region of contrasts, where mountain gorillas browse lazily in one of their last strongholds and a rich diversity of colourful, delicate butterflies holds sway. The beauty of the environment is rivaled only by its ecological importance, its scientific significance and its economic value to Uganda, as the centre for the country's ecotourism industry - a dangerously fickle industry, given the political turmoil of the region. Beyond the forest boundaries, the pressures of the encircling sea of humanity are strong - Bwindi is perceived by many as an untapped and rich, if unsustainable, source of hardwoods, fuel, medicinal plants and even bush meat. The reserve's only chance of survival seems to lie in that two-edged sword of tourism: selling, through limited habituation, the mountain gorilla to tourism, and ensuring that the human communities whose livelihoods encroach the forest boundaries benefit more from the continued survival of the forest than from its descent into banana plantation and oblivion.

Security Update
In March 1999 Bwindi hit the headlines as the site of a tragic incident in which eight tourists and a Uganda National Parks guide were killed. Since then, the Ugandan government has taken a number of steps to ensure the safety of visitors. There is now a military presence along the entire western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); a grass-roots intelligence network has been set up between local communities, National Parks officials and the military; communications have been improved; and National Parks staff has been undergoing additional training. The ceasefire in the DRC is also welcome news and will help to promote security in the area.

The security presence is efficient, friendly and low-key. The lodges in the area are all open, including the vacationtechnician camp which re-opened at the end of 1999. More importantly, the gorillas themselves are all well, and income from 'gorilla tourism' is once again being generated to the benefit of the local communities and the country as a whole. There are now two gorilla families to view, and another will be 'coming on-line' soon.

Inevitably, all tour companies operating in Uganda felt a severe drop-off in tourism after the killings, and some have gone out of business. Others, though, were able to diversify and offer new products such as birding, Nile perch fishing trips on Lake Victoria, excursions to see chimpanzees and other wildlife, and tours to other parts of Uganda. The overall effect has been to make people look at the excellent tourism potential of Uganda as a whole.

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